


Beach Outing

by gwillwrites



Category: Warhammer Fantasy
Genre: Asur, Dark Elf, F/M, Original Characters - Freeform, aelf - Freeform, druchii - Freeform, high elf, warhammer fantasy - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-12 22:28:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,807
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29766558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gwillwrites/pseuds/gwillwrites
Summary: Art trade with @arsenictyphoon on Twitter of our two aelf OC's being sinfully domestic with their growing family.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 3





	Beach Outing

The wind came down from the north, churning the waves into whitecaps that played along the water like frolicking dolphins. Gulls and other seabirds rode updrafts of warm wind higher up, their wings spread wide as they caught the breeze and simply floated in midair. Their cries echoed across the harbor, mingling with the snap of canvas and the tolling of ship’s bells.

Talisyr Squallborn inhaled deep the scent of the salt air as the ocean breeze tugged at his long, dark hair. The tiller beneath his hand jostled and jolted as the waves slapped at the rudder. But he kept a steady grip, guiding his little sloop out through the channel and into the wider harbor. He passed the deep water anchor line, and slipped between a pair of low-riding merchantmen.

Another aelf sat beside him, just over a half-dozen summers old. Zardelnin had his father’s dark hair and his mother’s sparkling turquoise eyes, and his grandfather’s name. He watched the larger ships slip by with a muted awe. His father once told him, when he was just old enough to understand, the most memorable part of seeing any ship was being down by the waterline and looking up. That still held true for Talisyr, and it seemed his son continued to learn it as well.

“You look ready to climb the hawsers and run off to sea on one of them, Zar,” Talisyr said.

Zardelnin grinned eagerly at his father. “One day, when I am of age. Like mother says.”

“Yes, well, what your mother doesn’t know, won’t hurt us right?”

“ _ Talisyr _ !” Diamariel huffed indignantly from her place amidships. The she-aelf fixed her husband with a perturbed glare as she reclined across the bench that stretched the beam of their little boat. She had the cushions arranged about her just so while her two boys piloted. “I am right here. Do not give him any of your ideas.”

Talisyr smiled sweetly at her in return. “I couldn’t possibly know what you mean, my love.”

Dia’s eyes narrowed into a condemning squint.

Talisyr simply grinned.

As their little boat passed out from between the larger ships, Talisyr turned southwest towards the harbor mouth. With the wind, the sails overhead snapped taut, and  _ The Captain’s Diamond _ began skimming across the waves in earnest. The little boat skipped and bounced across the whitecaps, bumping its occupants playfully each time.

“Talisyr, please!” Dia said, gripping the side of the boat to steady herself. “A little slower? I am not exactly as seaworthy as I usually am in my current state.”

Diamariel’s state was a swollen belly that had steadily grown rounder in the preceding months. Zardelnin was due for a sibling in the coming weeks, a sister hopefully, if Ysbryd’s prediction proved correct. They usually did. Talisyr was ecstatic, eager to have a daughter to dote on and protect. And perhaps to carry his mother’s name.

“Zar,” he said. “Come here and take the tiller while I see to your mother.”

Zardelnin scooted closer to the tiller and took the wooden handle with both hands. The look on face hardened into one concentration that was comically serious in the way only youth trying to prove something to their elders could achieve.

“Do you have it?” Talisyr asked. His son nodded, confident. “Good. Keep us pointed towards the breakwater.”

Talisyr stood and placed a hand on the boom to steady himself before nimbly making his way forward. Dia watched him, her eyes betraying an unspoken concern that her husband might leave their young son at the tiller of their craft untested as he was. Talisyr seemed to read her mind. As he neared her he leaned in and placed a kiss on her lips. “He’s doing just fine, my love,” he whispered. “After all, you birthed him at sea. He’ll end up being a better sailor than I and your grandfather combined.”

“I had no intentions of that,” Diamariel groused quietly, recalling the shock of her waters breaking a week earlier than anticipated. They had thought the short run from Cothique down to Tor Yvresse would have been done and over with before her due date had arrived, but Zardelnin had proved them wrong about ten days into their sixteen day voyage. Talisyr and Dia had arrived home at Cothique with one more member to the  _ Radalafarra’s _ crew and it had taken Intari and Braag all their willpower to keep the rest of the crew on task and working and not have them simply gather around the captain’s cabin to gawk and coo at the newborn. “He decided that was the moment he wanted out. I tried to argue with him and wait until we reached safe harbor home but he convinced my body otherwise.” 

“Yes, well, it could have been worse,” Talisyr replied.

“How?”

“He could have been born at sea during a  _ storm _ .”

Talisyr laughed, and Dia opened her mouth to retort, but then thought better of it. She fell silent as she watched Talisyr haul on the main sheet as he trimmed the sloop’s large triangular sail. As the amount of canvas lessened, so too did the boat’s speed. With each reach upward, Talisyr revealed some of his toned abdominal muscles as his shirt rode high and Dia couldn’t help but stare. 

Her husband caught the look and smiled.

“Careful, my love,” he whispered, his voice low so that only his wife would hear. “If you keep looking at me like that, I might have to take you below deck for a little while.”

Color rushed to Diamariel’s cheeks and she glanced sideways at their son, still dutifully keeping the sloop on course. “Tal, stop,” she whined. “Zar will hear.” Despite her protests, it was clear her mind had already wandered to the number of times they’d taken the boat out somewhere private, back when it was just the two of them, and set it to rocking for reasons other than surf and tide.

“Hush, he will not. And if he does, he won’t understand. Let me have my fun.” Satisfied with the mainsail hauled in, Talisyr secured the sheet to a nearby cleat and settled onto the bench beside his wife. He draped one arm around her shoulder and rested the other hand on the swell of her stomach as he pressed a kiss to the side of her head.

Dia made a soft, pleased sound as she leaned against him. “You can have your fun with me tonight once he’s gone to bed,” she muttered. “But only if you promise to be gentle with me.”

“I am always gentle with you, my love,” Talisyr replied. “But what if I want some fun now?” Without waiting for a response, he leaned in and kissed the side of Diamariel’s neck. The she-aelf bit her lip, swallowing the airy gasp that threatened to rise in her throat as her bare toes curled against the wood deck.

“Tal,” she breathed, one hand gripping his thigh urgently. Though whether her grip was as tight as it was because she was telling him to stop or because she needed him, even Dia wasn’t sure.

“I’ll behave,” Talisyr said, relenting with a laugh. He stole one more quick kiss before returning to his spot at the helm beside Zardelnin. “You’ve done a good job,” he praised. “You’ll make a fine sailor yet.”

The boy beamed at his father, then turned that shining smile to his mother. Dia felt her heart melt as she watched her two boys bond. Talisyr had always worried about being a father, that he would be lacking in some way, a reflection of his own despicable sire. Dia had known better from the beginning, and Talisyr had proven all her assertions correct the moment Zardelnin came into the world. And now they were to have another. Dia rested a hand on her belly, tracing the curve of it. A daughter. How their little family was growing. It brought a smile to the she-aelf’s face.

* * *

“Easy… easy… and…. there.”

_ The Captain’s Diamond _ scraped her hull against the old pier as Talisyr helped Zardelnin bring the boat in to dock. The pier was old, the wood bleached white by the sun to match the sands along the shore. But it was still serviceable for a craft as small as theirs, and Talisyr looped mooring lines around the remains of two bollards, securing the sloop tight. He then leapt from the cockpit, gracefully crossing the gap between boat and board with a single bound before turning and lifting his son from the cockpit. “Good job, sailor. Now go find us some pretty seashells for your mother to fashion into a necklace,” he said, ruffling the boy’s hair.

“Okay!”

Talisyr watched Zar scamper off on the hunt for shells before turning and offering a hand to his pregnant wife. Diamariel managed to extricate herself from the sloop with his aid and a breathy  _ oof _ , one hand supporting her growing child as her husband pulled her from the boat. “Don’t forget the lunch basket, my love,” she reminded Talisyr gently, pecking his cheek before waddling off to find a suitable spot along the beach to set up their picnic. 

Talisyr nodded before climbing back into the boat and retrieving the basket of goodies from below deck.  _ The Captain’s Diamond _ boasted a small cabin, one space that served as sleeping quarters and stowage for two. The picnic basket rested forward on one of the benches that doubled as beds with the correct cushions applied. Diamariel had packed it with an assortment of cured meats, hard cheeses, crusty bread, and fresh fruit. A tote bag beside it carried drinks, a mix of sweet juices and a few bottles of fresh water. With the goods in hand, Talisyr returned topside and trotted down the pier to catch up with his wife.

Dia selected a spot on the beach beneath the shade of a grove of trees that grew where the sand turned to soil. Their branches spread wide overhead, their green leaves offering a cooling spot out of the sun’s direct heat. Perhaps most important of all, was the stump that remained from one of their fallen that Dia could use as a seat while her boys lay out on the blanket and ate. She remained there, protected from the sun, as she watched Talisyr and Zardelnin search the beach for washed up shells and play in the pools left behind by the receding tide. She smiled, watching her son take a tumble into the surf only to bounce right up again, grin on his face and sand on his skin as his father scooped him up and spun him around. Zar giggled and shrieked with mirth. He would sleep well tonight, blessedly. And so would his father.

By midafternoon, Zardelnin had worn his father out. Talisyr lay out on the picnic blanket, dozing as he savored the shade and let his wet clothes dry in the sun. Meanwhile, Zar had acquired quite the collection of shells and sea glass. He piled them up on the blanket at his mother’s feet, adding one or two to the pile before scurrying off again to gather more. With Talisyr’s help, Dia sorted through them, selecting the best ones to be strung together into a necklace or a pendant.

“I’ll make sure the little one gets a necklace too,” she said, smiling to herself as she turned a sea-smoothed piece of purple glass over in her hand.

“You could make a mobile to hang above the crib,” Talisyr muttered. He sat on the ground beside his wife, his head resting on her thigh as he dozed. Diamariel smiled brightly at him, placing a hand on his head and running her fingers through his hair.

“A wonderful idea, my love. I think that is precisely what I will do.”

“Hopefully she doesn’t take after her brother and gives you time to make it,” he replied with an amused chuckle.

“Yes, well, why do you think I have kept you anchored ashore these last few weeks? I know you want to be present, but I am not risking having both of my children be seafarers like their father. I would like at least one of them around the house when I cannot follow you to sea myself.”

Talisyr looked up at her, smiling smugly. “You miss me when I’m at sea?”

“Of course.”

“Ha, gross.”

Dia rolled her eyes and cuffed her husband on the back of his ear. Talisyr laughed and Dia had to bite back a smile of her own, lest she betray her amusement and have him tease her further.

“Go round up our son, my love. We should be getting back soon.”

* * *

By the time they turned  _ The Captain’s Diamond  _ for home, the sun was setting and Zardelnin had curled up on the bench beside his mother and drifted off to sleep. His cheeks were sun-kissed and his skin salted from the ocean spray. One hand firmly gripped the conch shell he had discovered in one of the tidal pools they had explored ashore. Diamariel stroked his dark hair, humming softly to him a lullaby from her own youth. Talisyr listened as he followed the channel markers guiding them back into the harbor, singing the lyrics in his head along with his wife. 

The sloop glided into a mooring slip and Talisyr looped a line around one of the dockside cleats, arresting  _ The Captain’s Diamond’s _ momentum before making his way forward to secure the bow line. Confident the boat wouldn’t be going anywhere, Talisyr retrieved his dozing son, picking him up in his arms and carrying him ashore. The movement was enough to rouse the young elf, the boy blinking and rubbing at a bleary eye as his father sat him atop a bollard.

“Let me help your mother,” Talisyr said. “I’ll be right back.”

Zardelnin nodded, too tired to do anything else but fidget with his precious conch shell. Talisyr turned, extending an arm to help Diamariel from the boat. Despite being heavy with child, the Asur she-aelf still made the transition from sea to shore look immaculately graceful and Talisyr stole a kiss from her lips as she steadied herself on him.

“Thank you for this,” he said.

“For what, my love?”

“This day. It has been most wonderful. With you, our son….” He placed his hand on Dia’s stomach. “And our daughter.”

Diamariel smiled, her eyes lighting up as she hooked a finger beneath her husband’s chin and pulled him down for another, more passionate kiss. “I promise you many more such days,” she whispered. “Though we might need to invest in a larger boat at some point.”

Talisyr chuckled, looking down at her swollen form. “We will cross that bridge when we come to it, my love. I have no doubt you will make good on your promise, though.”

Talisyr kissed his wife before picking up his son once more, cradling the boy in one arm as his wife supported herself on the other. Together, the three of them made their way up from the docks, winding along the cobblestone streets of Cothique until they reached the manor that was their home. By then, Zardelnin had passed the point of no return, soundly asleep and drooling lightly on his father’s shoulder. Talisyr took him inside and up to his room, laying him carefully in bed before undoing the boy’s shoes and tucking him in. He left the conch shell on Zar’s nightstand, there for when the boy woke in the morning. Talisyr blew out the candle and slipped from the room.

He found his wife in their bedchamber. Diamariel sat on the edge of the bed, running a comb through her silver tresses. Her dress was undone as much as she could on her own, but her growing belly had long since necessitated Talisyr’s help when it came to changing outfits. She smiled at him as he entered, setting the comb aside and finding her feet.

“Is he asleep?”

“Deeper than the Great Sea. If he bothers us tonight, I’ll be very surprised.”

Dia hummed, pleased, as she turned her back to her husband. Talisyr began undoing the remaining laces. Dia bunched the dress up over her belly as he worked and when he was done Talisyr pulled the garment up and over her head.

“Do you want the light gown tonight?”

Diamariel turned and looked up at him, her eyes twinkling with more than a little mischief. “I don’t know. I  _ did _ promise you some fun tonight if you behaved yourself and….” She bit her lip, thinking back to watching Talisyr play with their child in the sand and surf all day. “You’ve been very well behaved so…”

Talisyr smiled and stole a kiss from Dia’s lips. “I promise to be gentle.”


End file.
